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Comment by rmc | Hacker News Reader

Wait the US doesn't have an 'E'? (Is 'F' short for Fail? I thought it was just the continuation of the sequence). Regardless, at least A is best, B is worse than that, etc. which makes sense.

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> Wait the US doesn't have an 'E'? (Is 'F' short for Fail? I thought it was just the continuation of the sequence)

Well, apparently it's more complicated than that. I always assumed that the lack of E was so that there would be no confusion with the ESNU system (which a number of students used to have in elementary school, but then they switch over to the A-F system in middle school). Also, many countries outside the U.S., including non-english speaking ones, use the A-F system. Still researching the origin.

I had previously believed that the A-F system was universal across the US college system, though apparently University of Arizona has the 'E' grade.

At the University of Utah, we have the 'E' grade also.

Dartmouth has E as well.

Where is the 'E'?:

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/07/how-i-would-unschool-my...

Well I think "it Depends." At my school we had E's both E's and F's where failing, but the difference was that with E's you could make up the class in summer school, with F's you had to repeat the class the next year, multiple F's would mean you had to repeat the grade.

If what you are saying is correct then it seems like the British a-level system is almost exactly the same in terms of grades.

A* to E, and then an actual failure is a U, so as to not just be a continuation from E I assume.

In Poland, high schools have 1-6 grade scale (6 is the best), but universities have 2-5 scale (5 is the best, 2 is a failing grade). Decades ago, high schools also had 2-5 (or maybe 2-6) scale. I have no idea why the 1 grade is nonexistent.

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